How To Kick-Start Your Quiet Time This Summer

Have you ever gone a really long time without a quiet time with the Lord? Has your Bible ever sat there, unopened, for weeks (or months) at a time? Has your prayer life ever become shallow?

*Raises hand.*

I’m writing this post today because I need this post. I need to brainstorm some ideas here in this space. I want to be honest about this and I want to hold myself accountable.

You see, I started off 2018 strong. I read my Bible and prayed every day. Even though I was super busy, I consistently reached for my Bible each night before I fell asleep and read a few chapters.

Then April hit. And the busyness of teaching hit. And the exhaustion hit. Instead of running to God for rest during this time of busyness and exhaustion, I just stopped having my quiet time altogether.

And, unfortunately, this isn’t the first time this has happened in my lifetime. I feel like I go through cycles where I rotate between feeling super close to God and feeling distant from Him. Usually, I feel distant from Him when I’m NOT reading my Bible and praying consistently. Which is logical, I suppose.

And I know this about myself. I know that when I feel far from Him it’s probably because I haven’t been turning to Him despite my busyness.

So thus I’m writing this post. I’m brainstorming a list of ways to get back to having a quiet time because I need to kick-start mine. And if it’s been a few weeks or even months since you last had your quiet time, you’re not alone. Let’s restart ours together! :)

1. Spend time with Him even if you don’t feel like it.

When I feel far from God, I crave His presence and yet I have the hardest time opening my Bible. What once felt like breathing now feels like effort.

So one way to kick-start your quiet time is to read your Bible and pray even if you have no desire to. Show up with your actions and your heart will eventually follow.

And pray that God would renew a passion for Him within your heart.

(I definitely have had to pray that prayer a lot lately. It’s a very humbling prayer to pray. It’s hard to admit to God that you don’t feel like spending time with Him. But I know that God wants me to have a strong relationship with Him, and I can’t do that in my own strength.)

2. Spend time with Him every day

I’ve found that if I skip a quiet time one day, it’s so much easier to skip the next day. And then the next day and the day after that, until my quiet time is non-existent. So this summer, I’ll have to make a commitment to show every day, regardless of if I feel like it or not.

At church yesterday, the pastor challenged us to spend 30 minutes a day this summer reading through the Psalms. So yesterday I set a timer for 30 minutes, turned on a Pandora worship station, and started reading.

I want to share that challenge with you too :) If you don’t know what to read this summer, join my church and me in reading through the Psalms- a little bit every day.

One more thing- don’t worry about the time of day that you spend time with Him. Just spend time with Him! If it’s hard for you to wake up early, then spend time with Him at night. And vice versa- if it’s hard for you to stay awake at night, have your quiet time in the morning. Or in the afternoon. It can even be at a different time each day! Just make a commitment to show up and be present with your God.

3. Listen to worship music

Worship music is a great way to spend time with God! Listen in the morning as you get ready for the day. Listen at night when you get ready to sleep. And/or listen in the car when you drive to work or your various summer activities :)

Worship music can be like praying- our heart’s cry to God. People have been singing as a form of worshiping God for centuries. Afterall, the Psalms were originally meant to be sung! And many worship songs we have today incorporate the Psalms or other Scripture into their lyrics.

This summer I definitely want to listen to more worship music. I’m actually listening to some right now as I write this post!

If you know of any great worship songs I should check out, please leave them in a comment :) I’d love to add some to my playlist. :)

4. Find a Bible you like

Another way you could kick-start your quiet time is to find a new Bible that you really like.

I’ve used the English Standard Version as my go-to Bible for about seven years (specifically, the ESV Student Study Bible), and have really liked it!

Recently, I was able to receive a copy of the new CSB Study Bible For Women to review.

I wasn’t that familiar with the Christian Standard Bible version, so I did some research and it seems really good! It’s like a combo of the NIV and ESV- they wanted to be as accurate to the original texts as possible while still being written in a readable language.

It seems so good!

The CSB Study Bible For Women has some really cool commentary too and different features to help you understand what God’s Word is saying.

Some of the features it has…

• An extensive introduction to each book of the Bible
  • The introductions state who wrote the book, who the intended audience was. and when the book was written.
  • It also explains what the book is about and why women should read that book.
  • Lastly, the introduction has a timeline of events that took place in that book and also in the world at that time.
• Little blurbs here and there that discuss Biblical womanhood in light of the surrounding passages.
• Word studies- where they explain what different words mean in the Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic texts.
• Answers to hard questions that can come up from various passages.
• Blurbs that explain key Christian doctrine.
• Character profiles
• A glossary at the end that also contains references to people as well as keywords.

I recommend this version of the Bible if you are looking for a new Bible to read.

A few weeks ago, I made a Facebook Live video where I flipped through this Bible and talked about the features a bit more. I recommend watching that if you’d like to get an inside peek. :)

You may need to click the speaker on the video to turn on the sound.

5. Prayer Journal

Another way to spend time with God this summer is to prayer journal.

I have dabbled in prayer journalling a little bit here and there, and have even written some posts about it. (How to Create An Interactive Prayer Journal and Prayer Journalling: How To and Examples.)

Prayer journaling has never been something I’ve done consistently, but I definitely think there are advantages to writing down your prayers instead of merely thinking them or saying them out loud.

For one, this way you’d have a record of what you prayed for and could more easily see how God answered your prayers. You’d also be able to reread your praises towards God and see what you gave thanks for during certain times of your life.

For two, we see this exhibited in the Bible- David (and others) wrote down his prayers in the form of Psalms.

Man, the more I write this post, the more I think I really do want to spend this summer in the Psalms! 

I hope you join me in kick-starting your quiet time this summer!

Or if you’ve been having a consistent quiet time already, I hope you stay strong :)

Spending time with God is such an important thing to do, yet so often I find it’s the last thing on my mind. I’m hoping and praying that there will be a change and a revival in my heart this summer. And if you’ve been struggling with this too, I’m praying the same for you. <3

Oh! And I want to know: What’s your favorite worship song? Tell me below :)

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Posted by Kara Beth & filed under Faith Tips. This post has 16 comments.